


Beauty and the Beast

by AvengersCompound (emilyevanston)



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Bruce Banner Bingo 2019, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, First Kiss, Fluff, Healing, Past Child Abuse, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23543122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyevanston/pseuds/AvengersCompound
Summary: True loves kiss will break a curse, or so the stories go.Square:@brucebannerbingo- R2 Genre: Fairy Tail
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Reader
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31
Collections: Bruce Banner Bingo 2019





	Beauty and the Beast

_Once upon a time…_

That’s how these stories start, isn’t it? The stories of true love and kisses breaking the curse.

Because that’s how Bruce saw himself. Cursed. Cursed from conception, because even as those two cells merged in an act of love, there had been no love for Robert Bruce Banner. At least not from his father. From the day of his birth, Bruce had to endure. He endured abuse, both emotional and physical from day one. He endured the trauma of watching his father who hated him so much from the very start murder his mother who did love him and tried her best to protect him. He endured bullying. He even endured the splitting of his psyche into three distinct personalities.

Just when he thought he’d gotten things on track again. When he had the respect of his colleagues and the love of a woman. When he’d managed to absorb one of those fragmented personalities back again, well that’s when the real curse happened. Bruce Banner was turned into a beast and cast from society.

There were rules though. Beasts lived on the fringe of society. The people hunted them because they feared them. Then the story always ended with the beast finding love and a kiss breaking the curse. Those were the rules. Bruce had played by them exactly the way he was supposed to. Didn’t it stand to reason that he got the last bit too?

You stood in front of him looking into the deep brown of his eyes. He seemed to be holding his breath and when you reached over and put your hand on his chest it was beating like a drum line in his chest.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me how you felt?” You asked, cradling his jaw with your free hand and caressing his cheek with your thumb.

He leaned into it and closed his eyes. “Because I’m a monster. Who would choose to be with a monster?”

“Could have let me decide that,” you said, moving that little bit closer to him.

He opened his eyes and his hands moved to your waist. You looked him over, the shy and reserved man you’d fallen for so fully was trying to do what came naturally to him and fold in on himself, hiding away from the people with the pitchfork.

“I’m here now. You have a choice,” he said. His voice was soft and full of fear. There was hope there too. And love. Bruce Banner loved you and you could hear that love in every hopeful word. “I feel like I’ve been cursed. That I was unlovable and I was destined to stay that way. The man who was a beast to be feared and avoided.”

“Like in a fairy tale,” you said.

The corners of his mouth twitched up just a little. “Yeah. Like a fairy tale,” he agreed. “I’m not going to pretend that it will ever be easy. I can never have kids and there’s a whole other person you’re agreeing to spend your life with. But I love you. I have for a long time and maybe… maybe we can carve out some happiness together…”

You stepped forward again, your bodies were now pressed closely together. Your lips hovered over his, so close you could feel the heat of his breath. “In fairy tales, true love’s kiss will break the curse.”

“That’s what they say,” he breathed, his lips skimming over yours, the touch as soft as butterfly wings.

“That’s a lot of pressure,” you said.

He smiled and leaned in, bringing his lips to yours. You wrapped him tightly in your arms and deepened the kiss.

And what followed was your happily ever after…


End file.
